Attachment for a toilet flushing means



FON K E N INVENTOR.

ATTORN EY WILLIAM A.

Aug. 18, 1964 w. A. FONKEN ATTACHMENT FOR- A TOILET FLUSHING MEANS Filed Aug. 29, 1961 m 9 I. 7 m a a w ll I 9 5 a w M ll 3 l V m w m T o v 1 United States Patent M 3 144,664 ATTACHMENT FOR A TOHET FLUSHING MEANS William A. Fonken, Olga, Wash., assignor to Hold Corporation, a corporation of Washington Filed Aug. 29, 1961, Ser. No. 134,617 2 Claims. (Cl. 4-57) This present invention relates to the general field of flush toilet mechanisms such as are used in homes and public places and more particularly this invention relates to an attachment which is secured to the lower portion of the ball valve as normally used in a flush toilet mechanism and which extends downwardly and coacts with a constricting means to modulate the flow of water, especially in the early stages of the toilet flushing cycle.

The makers of flush toilets have in the later years perfected the toilet flushing mechanism to a point where certain of them may be considered to be substantially noiseless. Such toilets overcome the deficiencies of the earlier toilets in which the actual noise of flushing the toilet often proved to be a matter of some embarrassment. There are, however, millions of the older type toilets still in use, which, because the fitting arrangements do not conform to present day development of toilets, cannot be improved by using the fiush mechanism of the newer toilets because they are not properly designed to accept these parts. In this present attachment it is believed that a means has been provided which is well within the ability of the usual householder to install which will be economical and will serve to so modulate the flow of water in the initial portion of the flushing cycle as to reduce the noise to substantially the level of that of the majority of the present day toilets.

The principal object of this present invention, therefore, is to provide an attachment for the valve member of the older type of toilet flushing mechanisms which will greatly reduce the noise incidental to the flushing cycle.

A further object is to provide an attachment that can be easily installed by the average homeowner, thus avoiding the necessity of the services of a plumber.

A further object of this invention is to provide a relatively simple means for controlling the fiow of water during the beginning of the flushing cycle and achieving this by means that is economical to install and which should, in addition, have a very long and useful life.

Other objects, advantages and capabilities will be apparent from the disclosure in the drawings or may be comprehended or are inherent in the device.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary, vertical, sectional view through a center section of a flush tank valve assembly and showing the manner in which my present attachment is put in place.

FIGURE 2 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 and showing the same type of attachment, but showing it in flushing position and illustrating a modified constrictor means and the manner in which it controls the initial flow of water so as quiet it down in the early part of the flushing cycle.

FIGURE 3 is a view generally similar to that of FIG- URES 1 and 2 but illustrating a modified form of my device such as is necessary in certain of the older toilet installations where the flushing tank is set close to the top of the toilet bowl.

Referring to the drawings, throughout which like reference characters indicate like parts, the numeral indicates the tank of the usual flush toilet assembly. As most tanks are made of vitreous material, it is common to employ a locked-in, internally threaded bushing 12 in which is threadedly engaged the tank discharge pipe 3,144,664 Patented Aug. 18, 1964 13. This discharge pipe is normally provided with a ball valve seat portion 14 and a fitting 15 which is internally threaded to accept the overflow pipe 16. In keeping with equipment of this order, a guide and positioning means is provided for the valve rod which also provides a connecting link for engagement for the operating rod 19. Properly shaped and sized to fit into seat 14 is the conventional resilient discharge ball valve 20. The mechanism described up to this point is generally common to all toilets or at least to all of the older type of toilets to which this attachment is particularly adaptable.

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Ball 20 is normally made of resilient material such as rubber, neoprene, or like materials so that it will easily conform to seat 14 and provide a full shut-off of the water stored in tank 10. Ball 20 is normally hollow and open at its bottom and is thus allowed to fill with water so that in the closing operation it has considerable weight which insures that it finds the seat 14 and is rather forcefully seated by the weight of the water. I find the easiest manner bywhich my attachment can be secured to ball 20 is to introduce it into the usual opening 24 of ball 20. To this end, the upper portion of my valve attachment is therefore provided with an annular groove 25 cut preferably in the upper portion of the top valve member 26. This member 26, I prefer to consider as substantially uniform in size for the varexplained. This gives a slender stem-shaped mid-por tion 32 for the valve attachment which is normally positioned when valve 20 is closed, below the level of a constriction seated in said discharge pipe 13.

In association with my valve attachment, I provide I a constricting means 34 or 34a for reducing the eifective internal diameter of the discharge pipe 13 at one level. One type of the constricting means is shown in FIGURES 1 and 3. This member consists preferably of a resilient band, made of rubber, neoprene or some of the resilient plastics, which is split radially at one point as is indicated at 35. This split may be considerable, substantially as shown in FIGURE 1 which shows a good proportion, and this makes it possible to insure that the band can be inserted in a wide variety of discharge fittings. In order to insure continued resiliency of this material so that it will grip the inside of pipe 13 and maintain its position I preferably provide a nonferrous or, as an alternate, a well plated metal spring wire open ring 36 having two ends and which is spring biased to spread band 34 at all times. The modified form of FIGURE 2 employs a constrictor 34a made of a suitable distortable material so that it may be pressed into place on seat 14 to form a Water-tight secondary seat 14a and provide a constrictor portion 37.

Where fitting 13 is of sufficient length, an adequate length is provided so that the constricting fitting can be made of various resilient materials including metal and can be more favorably proportioned.

FIGURE 3 illustrates a modified form of valve attachment in that the bulbous portion 44 is provided with a stem 45 having a key pin 46. Stem 45 is disposed for reciprocation within guide bore 51 of upper member 50 and the transverse pin 46 is disposed for reciprocation within the two opposed slots 48 made in the upper or top valve member, which for this use is in modified form and indicated by the reference character 50. It is believed to be apparent that this arrangement can be made to serve as does the preferred form and is collapsible by the telescoping of stem 45 so that the equipment can be put in place even through the discharge pipe has a sharp bend as 52 close up to the valve seat 14. In this form it may be desirable to allow water to enter ball 20 and to this end a Water passageway 53 is provided. The function of the parts otherwise is identical with more preferred forms.

Method of Operation The operation of the various forms indicated in the accompanying drawings is substantially identical and consists of having the valve attachments axially disposed in the drain pipe 13 or 13a and to have the valve with its stem-like reduced diameter portion generally disposed so that, as shown in FIGURE 1, there is a reasonable range of vertical positioning of the valve made up of members 26 and 30. This will still permit a generous flow of water past the constricting devices as 34 and 43. Referring to FIGURE 2, the position shown is where the ball has been manually raised to its upper limit which occurs at the instant of initiating the flushing cycle of the toilet. Here the bulbous or valve portion 30 has its greatest diameter at the point of greatest constriction and, as will be noted in FIGURE 2, the constriction is substantially the same so that a reasonable flow of water will pass, but not one that will give the noisy surge that accompanies the flushing of the older type of toilets and which has proved so objectionable. As the water hegins to lower in tank during the discharging of the flushing water, ball 20, directed by guide 18 and rod 17, settles with it and lowers the bulbous portion of member 30, which is indicated at 59, allowing a full fiow of water, and the transition taking substantially the time in which the toilet flushes, moves gradually from the showing of FIGURE 2 to the showing of FIGURE 1 when the valve 20 again seats on its seat 14 thus sealing the discharge opening so that the flushing tank 10 can again be filled.

It is believed that it will be clearly apparent from the above description and the disclosure in the drawings that the invention comprehends a novel construction of an attachment for a toilet flushing means.

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Having thus disclosed my invention, I claim:

1. An attachment for a toilet flushing means, comprising: a non-metallic and resilient constricting means for insertion in the water discharge pipe of a toilet flushing tank; resilient means for securing said means in place; a resilient ball valve means for said flushing tank; a rigid water flow throttling means secured to the lower part of said ball valve means and extending axially and downwardly therefrom; said throttling means having a slender stern mid-portion and an enlarged lower valve portion; said slender stern mid-portion located at the same elevation as said constricting means when the ball valve is closed and said enlarged lower valve portion disposed at substantially the same level as said constricting means when said ball valve is initially fully raised from its seat during the beginning of the flushing cycle and said constricting means constitutes a resilient non-metallic band which is split radially; a spring metal open ring embedded in said resilient band to spring bias said band into an expanded position and insure a secure seating in said water discharge pipe.

2. An attachment for a toilet flushing means, comprising a nor1-metallic and resilient constricting means for insertion in the Water discharge pipe of a toilet flushing tank to reduce the internal diameter of said pipe at one level; resilient means for securing said constricting means in place; a resilient ball discharge valve for said flushing tank; a rigid water flow throttling means secured to the lower part of said ball valve means and extending axially and downwardly therefrom; said throttling means having a slender stem mid-portion and an enlarged lower valve portion; said slender stern mid-portion located at the same elevation as said constricting means when the ball valve is closed and said enlarged lower valve portion disposed at substantially the same level as said constricting means when said ball valve is initially raised from its seat during the beginning of the flushing cycle and said throttling means is made of two parts, a top valve member and a lower enlarged valve portion; said top valve member andsaid lower valve portion joined together in axial alignment by threaded adjustable means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,015,614 Burnes Sept. 24, 1935 2,614,263 Kass Oct. 21, 1952 2,760,205 Tegarty Aug. 28, 1956 

1. AN ATTACHMENT FOR A TOILET FLUSHING MEANS, COMPRISING: A NON-METALLIC AND RESILIENT CONSTRICTING MEANS FOR INSERTION IN THE WATER DISCHARGE PIPE OF A TOILET FLUSHING TANK; RESILIENT MEANS FOR SECURING SAID MEANS IN PLACE; A RESILIENT BALL VALVE MEANS FOR SAID FLUSHING TANK; A RIGID WATER FLOW THROTTLING MEANS SECURED TO THE LOWER PART OF SAID BALL VALVE MEANS AND EXTENDING AXIALLY AND DOWNWARDLY THEREFROM; SAID THROTTLING MEANS HAVING A SLENDER STEM MID-PORTION AND AN ENLARGED LOWER VALVE PORTION; SAID SLENDER STEM MID-PORTION LOCATED AT THE SAME ELEVATION AS SAID CONSTRICTING MEANS WHEN THE BALL VALVE IS CLOSED AND SAID ENLARGED LOWER VALVE PORTION DISPOSED AT SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME LEVEL AS SAID CONSTRICTING MEANS WHEN SAID BALL VALVE IS INITIALLY FULLY RAISED FROM ITS SEAT DURING THE BEGINNING OF THE FLUSHING CYCLE AND SAID CONSTRICTING MEANS CONSTITUTES A RESILIENT NON-METALLIC BAND WHICH IS SPLIT RADIALLY; A SPRING METAL OPEN RING EMBEDDED IN SAID RESILIENT BAND TO SPRING BIAS SAID BAND INTO AN EXPANDED POSITION AND INSURE A SECURE SEATING IN SAID WATER DISCHARGE PIPE. 